


What's in a name?

by Higgystar



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Family time, Gen, M/M, Rickyl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 06:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2099652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgystar/pseuds/Higgystar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is for ofcoltsandcrossbows.tumblr.com who deserved something nice to come back to.</p><p>Rickyl family fluff. When Judith starts calling him Dada, Daryl tries to teach her how to say his name properly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in a name?

It ain’t like its Lil Asskicker’s fault.

She’s probably round about a year now, or something like that and Daryl ain’t never been around a baby before, but he figures she’s pretty smart for a one year old. Heck if she’s Rick’s kid then she’s gonna be a smart little girl anyway. Either way he’s pretty impressed with her as is everyone else and soon enough she’s babbling away and spouting off a few words, getting to grips with the basics of who everyone was and learning their names.

He watches her grow, sees the way she’s into everything at the moment and crawling around, grabbing what she can, testing things with her fingers and mouth and getting more and more strong willed as she goes. Judith points for things she wants, she tosses things she doesn’t want aside, she has favourite people and place and items and right before his eyes she’s becoming her own person and not a baby. So it’s no surprise that she’s getting pickier and asking for things she wants as well.

Thing is, that means she asks for people too and she ain’t quite got the hang of words yet. Her four teeth and drooling mouth can’t quite make the words right and though they’re slow with speaking, making sure to give her the chance to copy them all, it’s taking a while to get there. She gets mixed up between Carl and Carol, which he guesses is fair enough and they soon learn to point between the two of them when she begins stuttering out a ‘cuh’ sound to find who she wants. But she grasps most people’s names, from Mag and Gl, to Baff, Cuh versions male and female, Hersh, and even Mi. Still Daryl can see how proud Rick is when she manages to point to him and call him Dada.

He watches her learn, everyone else latches on to her self-made names to help her learn and before long they’re calling each other by them. Sure it’s weird to call Rick daddy but Judith catches on quicker, tugs on her father’s hair and gives him a gummy grin that makes Rick look less tired. Daryl had seen the man get so worn down over the time he’s known him, but if this one thing could make him smile then he’ll go with it.

They spend more time together lately, sharing duties and a bed, Rick is becoming quite domesticated after the whole Woodbury thing and now the Governor is dead and the prison settled things are getting stable. It feels like they have a future now, he can actually think about what they plan to do next week without the worry of not being alive. So they live together, work together and play together, Daryl helps with the kids and he’s busy with Judith when she babbles to him.

She ain’t had much success with his name before now, it seems the couple of syllables that make up his name were damned hard for her and she’d kind of given up. Usually she just babbles and lifts her arms up at him, pointing and picking him out of their group and honestly that’s enough for him, but she’s growing and now it seems she’s decided on a noise that suits him just fine.

“Dadada!”

At first he turns around, looking over at where Rick is by their farm with Carl, digging through their vegetable patch and beginning to walk over to them. She doesn’t look too excited but if she’s asking for her father he’s not going to deny her that. Standing close he smiles when Rick looks up, always unable to stop the way the other man makes him feel when their eyes meet. Rick pauses in his work to hold his hands out for the baby and Daryl passes her over without question, leaning in to press a quick kiss to Rick’s cheek.

For a second everything is picture perfect, even Carl is pulling a face at their affection and Daryl figures maybe he’s really found a place in this world. Then Judith starts crying, screwing her face up and reaching back out to Daryl, making grabby hands to him and chanting almost to herself. “Dadadadada!”

Rick rocks her, bouncing her a little and trying to get her attention cooing to her, asking her what’s wrong and Daryl is confused when the baby continues bawling. Usually being in her father’s arms was enough for her, but today she was just whining and now reaching back for him instead. “Hey hush your mouth Asskicker, your daddy’s got you.” He mutters, stroking at her cheek and Judith grabs at his fingers, her chubby little fist clenching around them and hollering whilst trying to get closer.

At first he ain’t sure what to do, she’s still babbling to herself, rubbing at her tears, and calling for, “Dada! Daaadaaa,” repeatedly. Rick looks confused for a moment but then holds her out to Daryl again, letting him take her, balancing her on his hip and like magic she hushes up. Burbling contentedly and reaching up to knot her fingers in his hair, drooling through her gummy smile and laughing at him.

Daryl feels flustered, he can see Rick looking at him and even if the other man won’t say anything he knows that it hurts something deep inside of himself now that Judith is calling him that. Running his tongue over his lips he wants to pass her back and reprimand her for the mistake, get her understanding that she’s wrong and learning quicker. Shaking his head he catches her attention, yanking his hair back from her grip and meeting her eyes as if it’ll make her understand more. “No, that ain’t right.” He mumbles, glancing over to Rick and he can see there’s pain there over this situation. “I ain’t your dada.” Daryl tries to explain but the hand on his shoulder stops him.

“Daryl it’s fine, she’s one, she doesn’t understand.” Rick’s voice is gentle, but he can hear the hurt behind it. He doesn’t mean to get her confused, he doesn’t want to be her dada or anything like that, he was more than happy just being whatever he was in this family already. She didn’t need to go making such a mistake.

“Well she needs to start understanding.” He nods, determined to fix this before it got out of hand. “I ain’t dada, I’m Daryl. Da-ryl.” He begins spelling out to her, going slow on the word, letting her fingers press over his lips and feel the movements as he repeats it, needing her to understand this. “Say ‘Da’.”

Judith giggles, wriggling in his arms, feeling his lips move beneath her palms and copying him happily. “Da.”

Nodding he’s pleased with the progress, ignoring how he can feel Rick’s smirk from beside him and hear the little chuckle his partner gives as he continues his lesson. “Now say ‘ryl’.” Daryl coaxes her, watching closely as she blinks up at him innocently. There’s a pause, she cocks her head at him before grinning, waving her arms and squealing at the top of her lungs.

“Dadada!”

Sighing loudly he lifts her up, resting his forehead on her tummy and just hiding away from the world for a moment. Judith doesn’t mind, she fists at his hair and yanks on it, babbling happily as she gets to wriggle in his grip before he lowers her again to meet her eyes. “No, I ain’t Dada Asskicker.” He tries again, settling her on his hips and jabbing a finger in Rick’s direction. “That’s Dada there. I’m Daryl, look let’s try again, first letter is the same okay so let’s just check you’ve got that. Say ‘D’.”

“Dee.”

Nodding he pats her head, noting that she actually looks interested in the lesson he’s teaching. “Okay great now ‘Da’.” He continues, smiling and nodding, giving her all the cues she needs to know that if she does as he asks she’ll be doing a good job.

“Dee Dee.” Judith smiles, tugging his hair, making him wince as she drags a fist to her mouth to chew on. It’s not what he’d wanted, it’s not even close to his name and he huffs a little.

“No, try again, it’s Daryl.” He could let her make a mistake, she was only one after all and still learning. Clearing his throat he tries to make sure he’s being clear when he speaks as not to confuse her. “Da-ryl. Da. Ryl.” He separates the syllables, really giving her a chance to copy him.

“Dee Dee!”

“You serious?” He asks her, noting her giggles as he get close to her face, pressing their noses together and able to hear Carl laughing behind them. “Look I’ll go easy on you so let’s start from the beginning.” Again he settles her, pointing to Rick and clicking his fingers to catch her attention. “That’s Dada okay?”

She squeals, waving her arms in Rick’s direction and drooling in pleasure when her father reaches out to poke her nose. “Dada!”

“Yeah you got that, good job, ten points.” Rick smiles, leaning on his shovel, watching as he tries to teach his daughter a lesson and heck the man ain’t looking as upset as he was earlier, and Daryl’s glad to see that. That in itself made it all worth it. Turning to the last member of their family he points the baby in Carl’s direction, smiling when the kid comes up to hold his little sister’s hands as he speaks. “Now that’s your big brother Carl, I’ll be nice and accept just Carl for the moment.”

“Cuh!” Judith yells, bouncing in Daryl’s arms and giggling to her brother.

“Close enough.” He shrugs, passing the baby over to Carl and using both hands to point to himself when she’s facing him. “Now here’s the bonus point. Da-ryl.” He announces slowly, being sure to make it very clear and easy for her. “That’s me, Dar-ryl.”

There’s a pause, Judith blinks up at him, focussed for a moment on blowing a spit bubble before she looks up at him and laughing. “Dee Dee!” She waves her arms in his direction and he sighs deeply as Rick moves behind him, wrapping arms about his waist a holding him close.

“You tried.” His partner shrugs, pressing a kiss to the back of his neck and hooking his chin onto Daryl shoulder to watch his two children laugh together over Judith newly discovered word.

“It’s close enough Daryl, I mean you are Dee Dee technically.” Carl grins, hoisting Judith up a little more and trying to tilt his head out of the way when she grabs for his hat. Daryl cocks his head a little for an explanation and the kid shrugs. “Daryl Dixon? Your initials are D.D. so it kind of fits if she’s having trouble with saying Daryl.”

“Didn’t think of it like that.” He admits, Rick laughing behind him and he can feel when the other man smothers his mirth in his shoulder. “See, I knew you were smart Lil Asskicker.” And he can’t stop himself from grinning, leaning in to kiss her cheek and laughing when she giggles and tries to repeat the action to him, ending up drooling on his cheek. “Already a damned genius if you figured that out. I guess I’ll take Dee Dee since you like it so much.”

She wriggles in Carl’s arms, flapping her hands about and waving to him. “Dee Dee Dee Dee!” She agrees, Carl laughs and behind him Rick sways a little, rocking them from side to side as they enjoy the moment as a family.

“I like it.” Rick admits, kissing at his neck, sliding his hands down to his hips and holding him in place. Daryl likes this, the quiet moments when nothing much is happening and they can actually appreciate it for once. Even if there are walkers gnawing on the fences around them, snarling and growling for their blood, right now they’re alive, safe and smiling together as one family. “Been trying to think of a decent nickname for you, Dee-Dee suits just fine.”

Daryl shrugs, not exactly used to having a nickname that wasn’t demeaning in some way or making a mockery of him. He likes it, it made sense and heck it was easy for Lil Asskicker to tell the difference between the two of them so he’d take it. “I’ll get used to it.” He admits turning to place a kiss to Rick’s cheek before reaching out to tickle Judith’s tummy, delighting in her squeals when he does so.

“Dee Dee Dee Dee Dee!”

Yeah it wasn’t exactly the most conventional family, but it was the one he had and dammit, it was pretty damned perfect all the same.


End file.
